Gophers pregame: For once, the Gophers aren't the team with the most baggage ... Can they take advantage?

For Larry Drew II, it was a moment that couldn't be faked.

Moments after the UCLA point guard had discovered what the team thought was something of a minor injury to all-around star Jordan Adams was actually a season-ending broken foot, the cameras were there, in the Bruins' locker room.

With the news so fresh, and the ramifications so big, Drew couldn't hold it in. Tears streamed down his face as he spoke to reporters, distraught.

A week has passed since that day, and a lot has happened. Adjustments had to be made, attitudes changed. It was a new team starting a new season.

And that Friday night, as Drew walked back to his hotel from the arena, he prepared himself for it mentally. There would be no more tears. There couldn't be.

"I knew I had to move on, he said Thursday. "We couldn't really be stuck on that forever because we were going to be playing against. So I shook it off and I got focused and probably just after that point in time I knew that, OK, the season is not over."

And move on UCLA has heading into tonight's matchup against the Gophers in the NCAA tournament.

"There's not a lot of time in that sort of time period to make a lot of adjustments," coach Ben Howland said.

A day later, the reigning regular-season Pac-12 champs were chosen as a 6 seed (perhaps a little low) in the NCAA field, scheduled to play their opening game (and second if applicable) in Austin, Texas – when the program had made it very clear they preferred the home state site of San Jose.

Too add fuel to the flames, Vegas odds quickly slotted UCLA as the three-point underdog – yes, the underdog – to 11-seed Minnesota.

It's hard to believe that the Gophers could be the team with the least amount of drama going on in any game – but tonight that seems to be the case. Besides their seeding/location concerns, losing the role of the favorite in the matchup and the loss of Adams, the Bruins are also hampered by rampant rumors about Howland's dubious future with the program.

While Gophers coach Tubby Smith could be in the same predicament, Howland's seat seems infinitely hotter, and has gotten more publicity. Just to pile on, the LA Times came out with a wonderfully written story today on Shabazz Muhammad – and the discovery that the 19-year-old star is actually 20.

That is the ultimate question.

Tonight could be the last night of Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams' career. It could be the end of the Gophers' crazy, up-and-down season. And it very well could be the final game of Smith's tenure at Minnesota as well.

A Gophers win would extend the season, allow Minnesota to finish on a high note and perhaps cool down Smith's seat at least somewhat.

And I can honestly tell you, I have no idea what's going to happen. From what I've seen from this team this season, nothing – nothing – would surprise me.

Three keys to tonight's game:

Drew on the team coping with the loss of Adams: "I think everybody's been handling it particularly well. Especially Norman. Norman has had a couple great days in practices these last couple of days, he's really stepped up. The team overall has been stepping up in Jordan's absense. Obviously it's a major loss to us, but Coach Howland and the rest of the coaching staff, everybody's done a very good job in preparing us for the coming games."

Drew on who would be the one guy they would try to stop: "In my opinion, the point guard is the one who controls and dictates everything out on the floor, so being that their guard, he is the leading scorer on the team, he takes the most shots, I do believe. But in my opinion, if I take him out of the game, then the rest of the team will go down with him. So I'm going to do my best to speed him up, pressure him, and just do a good job on the defensive end of the floor."

Travis Wear on the Big Ten: "There's a lot of big, physical teams in the Big Ten. They grind it out. I feel like a little bit more than the Pac-12 does. But I think our conference is going to fare very well in the tournament this year. I think that we're going to prove that our conference is very tough this year and equivalent to any other one across the country. But we know that Minnesota's going to come and grind it out and beat us on the boards like a lot of the Big Ten schools like to do."

Howland on pushing the pace, despite the fact that UCLA is only playing seven deep: "We want to run. We want to control the pace of the game. We want to play fast and push the ball. We'll look for every opportunity we can in transition. Then, if we don't do something, we'll pull out and execute what we do – we're best, our best offense is transition offense. That's, if you looked at our team this year, we led the conference in transition baskets, most shots attempted, most points scored … so nothing changes. These guys are in great condition. Larry's the old man, he's 23. He can go forever.

A few thoughts from Minnesota:

Austin Hollins on getting away from the grind-it-out, half-court setting that is seen so much in Big Ten play: "It is a little bit refreshing. They're no Wisconsin or anything. So we'll be ready when we come out on the court, we'll be ready to run up and down."

Some other quick notes:

Extra points:

*Watch tonight's game on TruTV.

* Listen to tonight's game live on My Talk 107.1 a.m.

* Also in today's Star Tribune: What's this? A little good, old-fashioned smack talk?

* All about the matchup: the call.

* Notes from yesterday's media access.

* This week's aMAILia BAG.

* Want to feel better about your bracket? Check out mine. Feel free to give me [heck]. My boss just informed me I am DEAD LAST in the company pool of 87. This is who you're getting college basketball advice from, folks. Hopefully I can't get canned for being impossibly bad at filling out a bracket. I'm not even mad. That's amazing. Not sure if I could have done this bad if I tried.